Typically, TCU dance instructors and guest choreographers plan out dance concerts, but the senior showcase is left to students. 

TCU’s School for Classical & Contemporary Dance’s capstone requires seniors in their last semester to show what they’ve learned by designing the entire program. 

“They design the work, they choreograph the work, they rehearse the work,” said Elizabeth Gillaspy, the director of SCCDance and faculty for the capstone course. “They collaborate with the sophomore lighting class for the lighting design. They really do everything.”

The entire school helps to make the production possible. 

“We really value the community that we build here and it’s very reflective of how our field works,” Gillaspy said. “We’re one of the few creative endeavors where you are really not ever doing it in a vacuum by yourself.” 

Senior dance major Juliana DeBellis, said, anyone can walk into the Erma Lowe building, which houses the dance department and find all of its students laughing, talking and engaging with eachother.

“We are a family here at Erma Lowe,” said DeBellis. 

“The senior shows are a wonderful way to engage with the entire department,” she said. “As a senior, it’s very exciting to be able to be a leader during these times – to be able to step up and to teach underclassmen exactly how we can achieve this concert. This concert is very much student-produced with, of course, the guidance and support of our faculty.”